What Is A Real Christian?

Can you explain to me how a person is truly converted to Christianity? What does a true conversion look like? How does a person repent of their sins and come to God? Will a person have habitual sin in their lives? I have heard so many different views as people when it came to what a real christian is. What does the Bible say?

A

The reason you’ve heard so many different views is that is you’re listening to the opinions of other people, and other people are not objective observers. Their observations are biased by their own sinfulness, and they can only observe behavior, not motive.

According to the Bible “real” Christians are people who believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died to pay for their sins and rose again on the 3rd day (Romans 10:9). He did this to show that His death was sufficient to save us.

You won’t find the phrase “repent of their sins” or “repent of your sins” or “repent of our sins” in the Greek text of the New Testament because the Greek word translated “repent” means to change our mind, not our behavior. In Acts 3:19 Peter said, “Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins might be wiped out.” He was telling his listeners to change their mind about their need for a Savior and turn to God, who alone could blot out their sins.

All believers have habitual sin in their lives, because all believers still have a sin nature. That’s why when Jesus came, He died for all of our sins (Colossians 2:13-14) not just those we had committed before becoming a believer.

Becoming a real Christian will change our lives, but the Holy Spirit will determine how that change takes place. Each of us who is a real Christian knows we are, because we can see the changes in our life whether others can see them or not. And we also know our change will not be complete until the resurrection / rapture when we’re transformed from imperfect to perfect.

About Grace thru Faith

Jack Kelley published over 9,000 Bible Study resources here from 1999, until the Lord called him home in the fall of 2015. His teachings made the Bible clear and easy to understand, and impacted millions of lives. He is the author of all the teachings here, and all materials are available free of charge! His wife Samantha maintains this site as well as their missionary outreaches.